Nobel Peace Laureate Arrested at Faslane, Scotland

Five people, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Mark Chapman, Philip Mangold, Ann Patterson and Miriam Turley were arrested by Strathclyde police outside the UK trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane , Scotland on Saturday 9 December at 12 noon. Mairead Maguire is a Nobel Peace Laureate and honorary President of the Peace People . The five were part of a larger group called that had come from Ireland as part of the Faslane 365 campaign to protest against nuclear weapons of mass destruction at the Base. The blockade lasted about 40 minutes while the traffic was slowed down to a single lane. The other members of the group sang songs and shouted words of encouragement while the five were being arrested.

The group was seen off at a rally at Belfast City Hall by well-wishers , including the Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, Donal McKeown. The five arrested are being held overnight at Clydebank Police Station in Glasgow.

I'm reminded of an episode of Yes Prime Minister where Sir Humphrey reminds Bernard that "you do not open up a national debate until the government has privately made up its mind".

BBC commented that a big supporter of the new Trident is the unions representing the workers who are going to be building the new subs. Any workers in the shipyards prepared to strike rather than build them?

The five arrestees were held over Saturday night in Strathclyde Police Station, and released on Sunday afternoon. They will be informed by mail whether or what charges may be preferred against them. They are part of the "Make Trident History" Group from Ireland
All returned home on a stormy sailing late on Sunday night.

The term "Nuclear bomb" conjures up images of terror but the name "Trident" leaves people unmoved. It's time to change this. Trident represents a far greater terror for the human race than a "mere" nuclear bomb. As the crow flies. Faslane, the den of Trident, is nearer to any corner of Ireland, north, south, east or west, than it is to London.

The following facts about Trident are based on an article in the Helensburgh Advertiser , December 7, 2006:

The Trident "nuclear deterrent" began service in 1994, shortly after it was chosen as a replacement for the Polaris missiles. Trident has a 30 year life span that is due to end in 2024.

All four of the UK's nuclear-powered Vanguard submarines are based at Faslane. Each is 150 metres long - more than twice as long as a Boeing747, 12.8 metres wide and twelve metres tall. Each usually has a crew of 14 officers and 121 enlisted persons.

Each submarine carries 16 US-built Trident ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 8000 miles and are accurate to within a few feet. The thirteen metre long missiles, which cost about £15 million each, can carry up to twelve nuclear warheads.

Each warhead is eight times stronger then the atom bomb that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 100,000 people. Two hundred warheads are stored at Faslane and Coulport.

At least one Vanguard submarine is always on station somewhere in the Atlantic or Arctic, ready to receive launch codes from Prime Minister Tony Blair in the event of a world crisis. During the Cold war, missiles were programmed to hit certain targets like Moscow. It is claimed that today, trident missiles no longer target any country or location.

The British Government claims that having a nuclear arsenal such as the current Trident system protects the UK by acting as a warning or deterrent "to other countries such as Iran or North Korea who want to develop their own long range ballistic missiles". It is also claimed to "have an impact on terrorists"

After the Irish blockade of Faslane, came the Trident Ploughshares blockade. At 7 a.m. on Monday a group of cyclists blocked the North Gate. They formed a chain and then locked on to each other using chains and padlocks. Soon afterwards, another group blockaded the gateway by lying in the road, joined to each other through tubing of plastic and other materials. There were 14 arrests.

The Lucia group from Sweden and the Leicester group have also blockaded Faslane in the past week. The Swedish group celebrated the national holiday of Saint Lucia at Faslane and then blockaded. There were 71 in the Leicester group including 94 year old Alice Beer and 30 were arrested. See reports: Luciataget and Leicester

There are vacant spaces for the new year in the blockade that is meant to last till the end of September. Contact: info@faslane365.org

Under the heading "Sign of the Times" there is a picture with a caption. The caption should read: "The Police vans are lurking at the side"

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